Super Cheap Hitachi UltraStar C10k600 450GB 2.5" TCG Encryption Hard Drives

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

Boddy

Active Member
Oct 25, 2014
772
144
43
Glad to see @Fritz and @svt3391 you have finally got your drives and along with @BackupProphet all seems well. :)

EDIT: were they packed well in foam as previously described by others?
I have mine sitting in CA and hopefully they will survive the cross Atlantic trip ok.
 
  • Like
Reactions: svt3391

svt3391

Member
Feb 11, 2016
113
17
18
They are well packaged, individually wrapped with anti-static bag (the sticker seals were all torn, I guess that's when they recorded the serial numbers.) I bought 24, and they shipped in two boxes with 12 each. They sat snugly in sponge forms and each drive will not touch other drives.

I am currently testing them under a Linux live DVD, using badblocks -svw /dev/sdx.
For some reason, earlier I put them under a FreeNAS 9.10 OS, and used badblocks -ws /dev/dax, after the progress moved passed 0.1%, I saw tons of numbers surfaced (I assume they are the sector number). Not just for one but for all the 8 I am testing right now. Moved to the CentOS 7 live they now look normal (just showing the progress, and time, etc).

When you said CA, did you mean California or Canada? They shipped out from Connecticut so if your drives are currently in California it's quite odd.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Boddy

Fritz

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2015
3,372
1,375
113
69
Glad to see @Fritz and @svt3391 you have finally got your drives and along with @BackupProphet all seems well. :)

EDIT: were they packed well in foam as previously described by others?
I have mine sitting in CA and hopefully they will survive the cross Atlantic trip ok.
Yes, extremely well packed in blocks of foam with slots cut into them. I ordered 16 and they came in 2 foam blocks. The packer was even smart enough to pack them all in the middle slots. This is a good thing because the box obviously took a hit on one end. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Boddy

Boddy

Active Member
Oct 25, 2014
772
144
43
Drives are in California as I figured it tends to be cheapest freight to Australia based on previous calculations.

Freight to California was only US$41.40 for 36 drives but it seems they packed them in one huge box.
(I'm wondering to ship as is with no content photos, less handling by freight forwarders?)
 

svt3391

Member
Feb 11, 2016
113
17
18
My 2 boxes arrived in perfect shape via USPS (surprise!). It was a Saturday delivery and signature was required. My post person was very courteous so none of the corner of the box was even dented.
 

felmyst

New Member
Mar 16, 2016
27
6
3
28
My 12 arrived today. AT LAST. Still waiting for 12 more. Mail brokers in USA can't believe that they're not for resale and refuse to send them.
Disks arrived in nice foam package. It's interesting that they're already 512 byte block size.
 

felmyst

New Member
Mar 16, 2016
27
6
3
28
Here's complete datasheet for these drives: https://www.hgst.com/sites/default/files/resources/USC10K600_Spec_Enc_V3.0.pdf
According to this document (18.4 for basic info about FORMAT UNIT command implementation and 18.4.1 for acceptable parameters), we need to format them to 512 b size with both fmtpinfo and pfu set to 0 to disable T10 data integrity.
Don't fall for "default" values of sg_format — they're not set until you call them. Luckily, you can format them from windows too! Just download your copy of pre-compiled binaries from The sg3_utils package
Here's a nice powershell script to automize your formatting job:

for($i=X; $i -le Y; $i++){.\sg_format.exe --format --fmtpinfo=0 --pfu=0 --size=512 pd$i}

Where X is number of the first disk you need to format and Y is the last. You can get them using sg_scan or via Get-PhysicalDisk cmdlet.
sg_scan example:
PD9 HITACHI HUC106045CSS601 MS03 PRJZGX7B
PD10 HITACHI HUC106045CSS601 MS03 PRK1HNUY
PD11 HITACHI HUC106045CSS601 MS03 PRJX2JTY
PD12 HITACHI HUC106045CSS601 MS03 PRJWSX5B
PD13 HITACHI HUC106045CSS601 MS03 PNW970KB
PD14 HITACHI HUC106045CSS601 MS03 PRK1HKHY
PD15 HITACHI HUC106045CSS601 MS03 PRJX1W4Y
PD16 HITACHI HUC106045CSS601 MS03 PRJZH6YB
PD17 HITACHI HUC106045CSS601 MS03 PNW9D7AB
PD18 HITACHI HUC106045CSS601 MS03 PNW9VNSY

You need this PD# number

Back to my disks: 1 from 12 was DOA (lot of read errors, write errors and other problems), another 1 from 12 was already formatted with T10 data integrity disabled. Returning the DOA drive is just too much fuss with a little benefit so instead I'll try to flash it with Dell or any other firmware I can find in the nearest future.
 
  • Like
Reactions: minimini

Flintstone

Member
Jun 11, 2016
127
20
18
47
I have 16 of these but haven´t really started using them for real data yet. Is this just for using them in Windows or is this low-level? Mine works so far OK in a ZFS set, but I was kind of expecting better performance, so if it makes sense to format them, I will.
 

Fritz

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2015
3,372
1,375
113
69
I'd like to know too. What will I gain by formatting them to 512b ?
 

BackupProphet

Well-Known Member
Jul 2, 2014
1,083
640
113
Stavanger, Norway
olavgg.com
Neither I cannot see any advantages formatting these as 512b. SQL Databases for example use either 4k(SQL Server), 8k(Oracle, PostgreSQL) or 16k(MySQL). Works great with ZFS, and I have great performance.
 

felmyst

New Member
Mar 16, 2016
27
6
3
28
Windows doesn't support 520b blocks and enabling type 2 protection (T10 data integrity) may lead you to a lot of CRC/ i/o errors. Linux is indifferent to T10 data integrity but doesn't like 520b sectors AFAIK.
So you'll definitely need to reformat them to 512b and likely need to also disable T10 data integrity to use them in windows.
 

fossxplorer

Active Member
Mar 17, 2016
554
97
28
Oslo, Norway
So these drives are 520b sector? I don't have good experience with an Ebay seller from Germany selling me 2x 2TB Seagate DKS2C-H2R0SS by givning me false information. He stated it was ST32000444SS, but it wasn't. Tried to format them using sg_utils, it went fine, but even with 512b sector, CentOS 7 refuses to accept them. Fdisk nor parted can detect these drives.
Dmesg reported the following:

[root@localhost ~]# dmesg | grep sdb
[ 3.625562] sd 1:0:1:0: [sdb] Unsupported sector size 520.
[ 3.625569] sd 1:0:1:0: [sdb] 0 512-byte logical blocks: (0 B/0 B)
[ 3.625571] sd 1:0:1:0: [sdb] 520-byte physical blocks
[ 3.628128] sd 1:0:1:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 3.628131] sd 1:0:1:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 13 00 10 08
[ 3.629386] sd 1:0:1:0: [sdb] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, supports DPO and FUA
[ 3.631085] sd 1:0:1:0: [sdb] Unsupported sector size 520.
[ 3.635801] sd 1:0:1:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
[root@localhost ~]# dmesg | grep sdc
[ 3.625325] sd 1:0:2:0: [sdc] Unsupported sector size 520.
[ 3.625329] sd 1:0:2:0: [sdc] 0 512-byte logical blocks: (0 B/0 B)
[ 3.625332] sd 1:0:2:0: [sdc] 520-byte physical blocks
[ 3.628008] sd 1:0:2:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[ 3.628011] sd 1:0:2:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 13 00 10 08
[ 3.629310] sd 1:0:2:0: [sdc] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, supports DPO and FUA
[ 3.630908] sd 1:0:2:0: [sdc] Unsupported sector size 520.
[ 3.635604] sd 1:0:2:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
Googling reveals these could have been NetApp disks hence some weird FW issue perhaps.

Just me paying €200 as these were "new" :(

I'll omit buying 520b disks in the future.

Sorry, if totally OT here.
 

Flintstone

Member
Jun 11, 2016
127
20
18
47
Windows doesn't support 520b blocks and enabling type 2 protection (T10 data integrity) may lead you to a lot of CRC/ i/o errors. Linux is indifferent to T10 data integrity but doesn't like 520b sectors AFAIK.
So you'll definitely need to reformat them to 512b and likely need to also disable T10 data integrity to use them in windows.
I would love to have some more information. I tried to work with one of the drives in Windows - I get no indication at all that there is a problem, and nowhere any sign of 520b sectors. Can you give som examples from the sg_ suite (or other) on how you identified them beeing 512b or 520b?
 

felmyst

New Member
Mar 16, 2016
27
6
3
28
I would love to have some more information. I tried to work with one of the drives in Windows - I get no indication at all that there is a problem, and nowhere any sign of 520b sectors. Can you give som examples from the sg_ suite (or other) on how you identified them beeing 512b or 520b?
As I've already mentioned, mine 12 were already 512b formatted. But they're pulled from NetApp filer, so they definitely were either 520b or 512b with T10 PI. Or both. You can check yours using sg_readcap:

PS C:\Users\administrator\Downloads\sg3_utils-1.42_mw64exe> .\sg_readcap.exe -l pd10
Read Capacity results:
Protection: prot_en=0, p_type=0, p_i_exponent=0
Logical block provisioning: lbpme=0, lbprz=0
Last logical block address=879097967 (0x3465f86f), Number of logical blocks=879097968
Logical block length=512 bytes
Logical blocks per physical block exponent=0
Lowest aligned logical block address=0
Hence:
Device size: 450098159616 bytes, 429247 MiB, 450.098 GB

Here you can see that this drive has T10 data integrity disabled (prot_en=0, p_type=0) and the block size is 512b.

And here's the same drive before sg_format:

PS C:\Users\administrator\Downloads\sg3_utils-1.42_mw64exe> .\sg_readcap.exe -l pd10
Read Capacity results:
Protection: prot_en=1, p_type=1, p_i_exponent=0 [type 2 protection]
Logical block provisioning: lbpme=0, lbprz=0
Last logical block address=879097967 (0x3465f86f), Number of logical blocks=879097968
Logical block length=512 bytes
Logical blocks per physical block exponent=0
Lowest aligned logical block address=0
Hence:
Device size: 450098159616 bytes, 429247 MiB, 450.098 GB

As you can see, this drive is 512b with T10 data integrity enabled.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: minimini

Flintstone

Member
Jun 11, 2016
127
20
18
47
Thank you for great information. I will digg into this, and format my drives so that they will cause as little problems as possible in the future!
 

unwind-protect

Active Member
Mar 7, 2016
415
156
43
Boston
(I can move to a different thread if you want?)

Are any of you folks finding good deals on SAS frames or standalone SAS cables?

I have plenty controllers, all going to SFF-8088 (square metal external). I have cheap drives. Buying a 8x frame wasn't cheap but OK (got the silverstone) but getting cables is really annoying. I need SFF-8088 to SFF-8087, then SFF-8087 to breakout SATA style.

I also managed to pick up 2 reverse breakout cables. Argh.

Are most of you running used 19" gear?
 

NetWise

Active Member
Jun 29, 2012
596
133
43
Edmonton, AB, Canada
Used rack mount gear is the only cost effective way TO do it. Customized desktop stuff is cool but often priced to reflect the lack of both supply and demand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

frogtech

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2016
1,482
272
83
35
Got my first order of 24 finally. Wish they didnt make you sign for these. Get so tired of having to make arrangements or go to the FedEx office when I reschedule the delivery to be held there. Would also be nice if they didn't include the caddies.